Shy Love | Stanley Uris

FOUR.

"Get back here!" Vera hopped on her bike and peddled like a mad-man. "Fine! You're leaving, don't ever come back!" Vera's chest stung as she knew all the boys had heard. She felt eyes on her as she biked away. She didn't bother paying attention to anyone and only peddled faster to Beverly's house.

As the kids road down the back street where Beverly's flat was, she ran down to meet them. "You made it, I need to show you something." She looked back at the stairs she'd previously ran down from.

"More than we saw at the quarry?" Richie joked. Vera smacked his arms as Eddie yelled at him to shut up. Vera was concerned since Beverly seemed to be nervous. "My dad will kill me if he found out I had boys in the apartment." Beverly pointed out. "I'll go in with you then." Vera offered causing Beverly to shake her head. "It's gonna take more than two people."

"W-we'll leave a look out... Richie, s-s-stay here." Bill said dropping his bike. Everyone else dropped their bikes along the road as well, rushing towards the stairs. "Woah, Woah, Woah. What if her dad comes back?" Richie yelled to the losers. "Do what you always do! Start talking." Stanley yelled back causing Vera to let out a giggle. Stanley smiled at the fact he made her laugh.

Beverly lead the group through her dimly lit house. "In there," Beverly said as they turned the corner. An ominous door stood at the end of the hallway. The teens stared at the door before Bill started to head towards it.

"What is it?" Stanley asked from beside Vera. "You'll see," Beverly whispered nervously to the curly haired boy. "Are you taking us to your bathroom? You know that 89% of the worse accidents occur in the bathroom. I mean that's where all the bad bacteria and fungi are, it's not a very sanitary place, I-i jus-" Eddie was cut off by the creaking of the door and the bright red light emerging from behind the door Bill was opening.

Eddie whimpered as the door began opening, Stan moved closer to Vera as he awaited what was behind the door. "I knew it..." Eddie gagged as the door revealed Beverly's bathroom drenched in thick, dark blood. "You see it too?" She asked the group. "Yes." Vera whimpered out. "What happened in here?" Stanley asked.

"My dad couldn't see it, I thought I might be crazy." Beverly shook her head as she told the group. "Well if you're crazy than we're all crazy," Vera muttered, stepping behind Stanley who was guarding her.

"We c-can't leave it like this." Bill said walking into the bathroom slowly. The rest of the group reluctantly walked in after him.

They gathered everything they could find, gloves, towels, buckets, mops, sponges. Anything they could possibly use to clean up the mess. Stanley walked over to where Vera was stood in the tub, cleaning off the walls with a mop which she held vertically in the air. The room was filled with silence except for the groans and gags escaping Eddie's mouth with the occasional intake of air from his puffer.

"Hey, I heard what your Gran said... You know, when we were biking away." Stanley didn't look over at the girl in case he'd said something wrong. Vera nodded looking down for the first time in a while. "I think the whole town heard it. It's definitely not gonna help with rumours." Vera's voice was soft as she continued mopping. Stanley was cleaning the window, making sure to wipe in clean, straight lines. Vera smiled at the boy and how he liked everything to be organized and perfect.

Stanley felt her watching him and felt the urge to mess up his neat lines. He felt embarrassed at the fact he was so pristine when it came to cleaning and organizing things in general. Little did he know, Vera was admiring him for just that. "Where are you going to stay?" Stan broke the silence that was brewing between the two. No one seemed to notice or care that the two were talking.

Vera shrugged, shaking her head. "I'll find a place, somehow." Her voice quieted down as she finished her sentence. Stanley looked over at her slightly. "Y-you could always stay at my house. I mean my dad would probably kill me but it's not like we'd sleep in the same bed or anything, cause that would be weird. I mean it's not that I wouldn't want to, or that I would want to I jus-" Vera laughed causing Stanley to blush and stop rambling.

"I should maybe stop talking." He shook his head, looking at his feet. "Thank you, Stanley. I'll definitely think of you as an option." Vera smiled at the boy. As she was stepping out of the tub he stopped her. "I never believed them... The rumours." Vera felt a weight being lifted from her shoulders. It felt good to hear someone say that, especially since the whole town seemed to believe what was said about the girl.

"You shouldn't... I've never even had my first kiss." Vera finished the conversation before walking out of the washroom with her dirty mop and a bag full of bloody paper towels.

—

"No, I love being the personal doorman really. Could you idiots have taken any longer?" Richie circled the kids on his bike as the rest of the group walked with their bikes in their hands. "Shut up Richie." "Yeah, shut up Richie." Eddie and Stanley said to the boy. "Yeah I get it, trash the trashmouth."

"Hey, I wasn't the one scrubbing the bathroom floor imagining it went all 'Eddie's moms vagina on Halloween'." Richie tried making a joke but the club wasn't up for it. "She didn't imagine it. I s-s-saw something too." Bill stopped walking causing everyone to pause as well. "You saw blood too?" Stanley asked.

"Not blood. I saw, G-g-geor-Georgie." Bill stuttered out biting his lip in sadness. "It seemed so real..." Bill said looking down at his bike. "I mean it seemed like him but there was this-"

"The clown..." Eddie cut off Bill before he could finish. "Yeah, I saw him too." Eddie stumbled out his words. All the kids looked at each other. The entire group agreed on seeing the clown except for Richie and Vera. "Can only virgins see this stuff? Is that why I'm not seeing this shit?" Richie asked earning eyerolls from the group.

"No Richie, I haven't seen anything either. Plus who would wanna touch, that." Vera joked back causing Richie to send the finger in her direction. Everyone's attention was grabbed when yelling could be heard in the distance. "Shit, that's Belch Huggins car," Richie called out pointing to where a car was pulled over on the side of the road, along with a bike laid on the ground.

"We, we should probably get out of here." Eddie said stumbling over his words. "Wait, isn't that the homeschooled kids bike?" Billy pointed towards the bike laying on the side of the road. "Yeah, that's Mikes-"

"We have to help him!" Beverly said looking to the rest of the group eagerly.

Eddie froze in shock. "We do?" He asked clearly not wanting anything to do with the bully's.

"Yes.." Beverly said hopping off her bike and running towards the forest. Vera looked around at the others boys who hesitated to follow her. They all dropped their bikes and chased after the red haired girl.

Vera dropped her bike waiting for Stanley to put his kickstand down. She chuckled at how adorable he could be at times. She grabbed his hand pulling him with her.